Damaged
by Labradoodles and Muffins
Summary: Suspended, going in no direction. Bit by bit she breaks down. Rated T for use of mild language and mental instability.


_Dreaming comes so easily  
Cause it's all that I've known  
True love is a fairytale  
I'm damaged, so how would I know?  
_

She is the invisible girl. Oh sure, people know she's there and they talk to her, laugh with her but each of them have something that marks them as _them_. Kiba has Akamaru, Tenten has her weapons, and even Sakura has her super strength and is seen because of this and her links to Tsunade. She has nothing, nothing that she can claim as her own, to make her stand out from the rest. They're all so busy standing out that they don't notice her fading into the background.

_I'm scared and I'm alone  
I'm shamed and I need for you to know_

She watches as they begin to pair off, friends, lovers, and companions and still no one sees her. She's beginning to get scared. What if she fades away completely? If she were to die now, how many would mourn her truly, the deep soul-wrenching mourning that she knows the others would receive? She searches for the answer and it hurts to admit it to herself.

_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_  
_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_

Everyone thinks she is so open and forward, that she says what she wants and damns the consequences. This is what she wants them to think. What would they do if they knew that every single word that crossed her lips was planned, designed to fob off worry and concern? And it works. As time goes on people stop worrying about her. _She's so forward_, they think,_ if there was something wrong we'd hear about it._

_Healing comes so painfully_  
_And it chills to the bone_  
_Won't let anyone get close to me_  
_I'm damaged, as I'm sure you know_

Her team has tried and she loves them for it but still she holds them at an arm's length. She's been doing it for so long now and with such skill that they think this is as close as anyone will ever get. They think that _this_, this upfront, loud, confident and shallow little girl is all that she is. They have no idea. Even though they are supposed to be a team, people never think of her when they discuss her teammates and cannot find it in herself to blame them.

_I'm scared and I'm alone_  
_I'm shamed and I need for you to know_

As time goes on, they begin to separate, being put into teams that better suit their skills. Shikamaru is heading up the ANBU Black Ops stealth operations, Lee is master of the taijutsu programme for all of Konoha and Naruto is undergoing training to become the next Hokage. Then there is she, perpetually frozen, going neither forwards nor backwards. She sometimes wishes that she was getting worse as a kunoichi, at least then she would know what direction she was headed in.

_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_  
_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_

The shame has begun to turn to a numb agony and all of her nights are spent in a blur of alcohol and bad sex with strangers, even when she's on missions. Her various teams have often awoken to find her passed out on the floor the stench of sake and men coming from her in waves. The stories of her late night escapades had begun to leak out and she notices that people are looking at her differently. The civilians treat her like a whore and even her fellow shinobi have started to distance themselves from her.

_There's only for my soul  
And undo this fear  
Forgiveness for a man  
Who was stronger  
I was just a little girl  
But I can't look back_

She wakes up one morning with a hickey on her neck and a bottle in her hand. She knows that she is heading for disaster as she automatically lifts the bottle to finish off what little is left in it. The truth is, she no longer cares. She is constantly drunk and removed from the active missions' rota. Women begin to steer their husbands away from her when she staggers down the street and she is no longer introduced to her friends' boyfriends. She doesn't care for she knows that Sakura's boy was the one who was pounding into her last Friday and it fills her with a vicious vengeance.

_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_  
_I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say_  
_And you can't take back what you've taken away_  
_Cause I feel you, I feel you near me_

Everyone knows when it began. First her team leader died but she was able to handle that. Her life began to truly shatter the day the one man she ever loved left her for that Sand bitch. What hurt the worst was that she was expected to remain on a team with him and that he had no idea of the pain he had caused her. Some genius he was. And so, Yamanka Ino spirals out of control and there's no one left to ground her.

_Can't go back..._  
_Can't go back..._  
_Can't go back..._  
_Can't go back..._  
_I can't go back..._  
_I can't go back..._  
_I can't go back.._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._  
_I must go on..._

* * *

**A/N:** I chose Ino for this because she's the only girl that doesn't seem to have developed any skills that seperate her from her family. I might do a sequel revolving around her being saved, it depends on the response and/or my level of boredom at work.

R&R


End file.
